Today is Bret McKenzie’s 36th birthday!
Fans of The Lord of the Rings may remember a certain handsome, dark-haired elven extra who was present at the Council of Elrond. Some extremely serious fans may even refer to him as Figwit (Frodo Is Great…Who Is That?), though his official title in the credits of The Return of the King was “Elf Escort.”
Bret McKenzie, the man behind the phenomenon, will be featured as the elf “Lindir” in The Hobbit films. “I’ve got a proper name this time,” he said. “In the book he was a musical elf. This time, if I make the edit, I’ll speak in Elvish. But I don’t sing.”
Along with Jemaine Clement, McKenzie heads the band/comedy duo known as Flight of the Conchords. Apparently, Ian McKellen, who will revisit his role as Gandalf in The Hobbit, is a big fan of the band. McKenzie joked that he, McKellen, and Hugo Weaving, who will play Elrond, are collaborating on a re-telling of Tolkien’s classic tale. “We had a bit of downtime on set,” McKenzie said, “so we started workshopping The Hobbit: The Musical. We came up with some pretty good stuff.” McKenzie already completed his scenes for The Hobbit last year, and said “it was great to get my pointy ears back on.”
His musical talents and aspirations don’t end there. He won Best Original Song at the Academy Awards for his song ‘Man or Muppet’ from The Muppets movie. He said, “I grew up in New Zealand watching The Muppets on TV and never dreamed I’d get to work with them. I was genuinely starstruck when I finally met Kermit the Frog, but once you get to know him he’s just a normal frog – and, like many stars here, he’s shorter in real life.”
From all of us here at Middle-earth News – Happy Birthday, Bret!
